> LED, WaterPROOF, AA battery powered, small enough to fit in > pocket, not so expensive I'll have to sell a kayak John I like wearing a LED headlamp when kayaking at night - even if only round my neck. There is little chance of losing it OB, I always know where it is, I can pull it up to my forehead and then easily 'aim' it while retaining full paddle 'dexterity'. Once I had convinced myself that I could achieve sufficient brightness - for the desired visibility, I retired the hand-held torch. The LED world advances almost daily, so there is always a 'new & better' just round the corner. What Craig was saying about 2 or 3 AA cells (more cells = brighter light) is true for the inexpensive end of the market. Better lights contain a very efficient DC:DC converter to regulate the current (for constant brightness) and optimise the power from a draining set of cells. So, such circuitry allows any number of cells (even 1) to give a specified & constant brightness - you just trade weight for duration. Christchurch is home to a very competent Adventure-Racing light supplier - but their products run to many 100s of $US - which is probably overkill for what you want. Fun to look at state-of-the-art though: http://www.nightlightning.co.nz There is also a delightfully mad bugger in the UK - known as Troutie - who keeps inventing incredible lights that rival car high-beams. These are mostly aimed at the (mountain) biking community, but one found its way into NZ last year for use by the madman who kite-surfed/boarded (whatever they call it) from Auckland to Russell in the annual overnight sailing race (that distance took me 6 days to kayak). So Troutie's lights can certainly be made waterproof enough for us to kayak with. Interview with the Trout here: http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/interview-bike-light-maker-chris-hadaw ay--25238 OK, neither of those is really what you asked for. So, some real suggestions - in order of rising $ and capabilities: Silva Ranger - 75gm, 34 lumen, 20hrs, IPX7 (1m for 30mins), 1AA http://www.silva.se/en/Products/Mobile-Lighting/Ranger (About 70 $NZ in NZ - probably not called Silva in the USA) Fenix HL20 - 50gms, 4-105 lumen, 1.8-56 hrs, IPX8 (2m for 30mins), 1AA http://www.fenixlight.com/viewnproduct.asp?id=64 (About 40 $US - probably have to airmail it into NZ) Fenix HP10 - 120gms, 7-225 lumen, 2.5-210 hrs, IPX8 (2m for 30mins), 4AA http://www.fenixlight.com/viewnproduct.asp?id=49 (About 70 $US - 110 $NZ on TradeMe) Have fun & remember that in 3 months this will all be ancient history ;-) Best Regards Paul Hayward, New Zealand *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Jun 08 2010 - 06:17:12 PDT
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